When a group of individuals each have the same (or similar) device, each device often has the same ringtones and notification sounds (either by default or by chance). Hence, when an event occurs at one of the devices, such as receipt of call, and a notification of the event is provided, such as a ringtone, the notification is often identical to notifications provided at the other devices. This leads to confusion and a waste of resources at each of the other devices phones as they are checked.
Similarly, when multiple accounts are associated with a device, a notification of an event can be the same for each account (either by default or by chance). Hence, when an event occurs at the device associated one of the accounts, whether active or inactive, confusion can again occur.
While in each of these instances notifications can be manually customized, it can still be difficult to ensure that a notification is different from notifications provided by proximal devices.